From WO97/16838, a method for manufacturing monolithic photoelectrochemical cells is previously known. In this method, photoelectrochemical cells are formed by virtue of patterns of conductive material being applied to an electrically insulated transparent material. A porous structure is then applied by successive application of a ply of a porous semiconductor, a ply of a porous insulator and a ply of a porous conductor. After application of the porous structure, the porous structure is provided with a liquid electrolyte. The porous structure is also covered by an insulating cover layer.
It has been found, however, that a number of problems arise in the sealing of monolithic electrochemical systems. On the one hand, it has been found that the cells are sensitive to moisture and impurities because the presence of moisture and impurities has a considerable effect on the long-term stability of the system. On the other hand, it is important that the sealing along the outer edge of the cells effectively prevents leakage or dissipation of, on the one hand, electrolyte from inside the cells and, on the other hand, impurities and moisture from the outside into the cells.
In order to seal monolithic electrochemical systems, in which electrolyte is in place on sealing, various methods have been tried, such as gluing and joining together by pressing between two rollers. None of the methods tried previously has resulted in electrochemical systems with sufficiently good long-term characteristics and with a sufficiently low degree of impairment of the performance of the cell in the sealing process, which has also resulted in cost-effective industrial manufacture of electrochemical systems being made more difficult.